Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Poker Source Online has always offered $100 in Free Poker Money to North American Customers, but now International customers are eligible.

If you live in Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Israel, Netherlands, New Zealand, Russia, Sweden, UK, Canada or Mexico, you can click here and get $100 Free Money at Party Poker.

- You must be at least 18 years old to qualify for this promotion.- You must be a first time real money player. If you have EVER had an active Party Poker REAL money account, you do not qualify.- Your Party Poker email address and your Neteller email address must match. No exceptions!- Only one account per person, per street address, per IP address. DO NOT sign up for anyone else.

There's already a ton of people who try to defraud PSO and Party Poker by trying to get the free money multiple times, or by lying about their address or age. Please don't be one of those guys, it makes me look bad. It's a great deal, don't go and screw it up for everyone else by trying to cheat the system.

US customers can get $100 Free Money at Absolute Poker by clicking here.

Thursday, October 26, 2006

I'm pretty astounded how many people find my blog via searches on Google. Here are some of the searches people do to find their way to my blog, and when I check the searches how far up I am on the list of URLs for them to click:

destructive criticism 5thI did a post called "Destructive Criticism" where I listed what I don't like about all the blogs in my blogroll. It was HUGELY UNPOPULAR, as expected. Still a fun exercise. And the phrase seems pretty uncommon, so I score pretty high on searches for it.shanna hiatt 15thI haven't posted about Shanna in a long time, but I still get tons of hits from searches on her. This will probably pick up when she re-emerges as the preeminent poker diva on NBC's new poker show.pichers of sharks 5thI facetiously posted the word "pichers" when I posted some pictures, and ever since then I have gotten tons of hits from all the illiterati out there. Funny how misspelling words can get you hits, but do you really want those hits?wpex connection problems 2ndI seem to have a few "wpex" hits most every day, especially when it's somebody unhappy with them. I never get a "wpex is great!" search. Interesting.limit vs no limit 4thI have done a few limit vs. No limit posts, and this is a very popular search. I don't know if my post helps people with their inquiries. Maybe it does.poker coins 5thI did a small review of a site that sells poker card protectors called "poker coins" and have always gotten a few occasional hits ever since. I still use the ones I got and I love them.fuck me running 3rdI did a post titled "fuck me running" and have gotten hits on it ever since. I still love the phrase ever since I heard it from a guy in 1986 named Jeff VanBuren, one of the original VanBuren boys.rude fuck 4thI get a lot of hits on the word "rude" in general, like "rude jokes" or "rude comics" but this one is the most consistent. Maybe I overuse the word "fuck?"free money from titan 4thI like the free money hits, especially if I get a referral out of it, but I haven't picked up a single free money referral since that fateful Friday the 13th.free poker money 6thThis is a biggie, I have made a lot of referral bucks off this one.rake rebate 5thI probably should post more about rake rebates, because I don't think I get a lot of referrals about this one either. I need a referral for a place that does rake rebate from Full Tilt Poker. I bet a lot of people are looking for that service now...titan poker delete account 6thThis one makes me feel good. I had a bad experience with Titan poker and quit referring people there without explicitly denouncing the place. Now that they are rejecting US customers, I guess it's unnecessary.

Anyway, those are some of the ways folks are finding their way here. I hope they get some good info, or at least a smile or two from what they find.

Tuesday, October 24, 2006

Last week was the first time in over a year that I didn't collect any referral points from Poker Source Online. I don't expect to get anything this week either. The UIGEA has completey choked off all my referrals, mostly because of the withdrawl of Pussy (Party) Poker. Some folks were in the middle of promotions at places like Titanic (Titan) Poker too. I hate to see how it is killing the business over at PSO. All PSO did was make online poker, already a gold mine of fun and riches, into something better. In a situation where everybody wins, you have to expect the government to step in and FUCK EVERYTHING UP. Welcome to America.

I heard a comedian on the radio this morning who had a very good point.

"Are you more afraid of the terrorists, or your governemnt? Would you be more afraid if you got a letter from the Taliban, or the IRS?"

I've never gotten mail from a terrorist, but it can't be worse that some of the letters I've gotten from the IRS.

I cashed out all my PSO referral points into Amazon.com gift certificates and went on a spending spree for stuff for the new house. The goofier the item the better. Mrs. Bogey got a Roomba Hard Floor Cleaner for her birthday. She loves it, but the dogs don't seem really fond of it. The kitchen has gotten the most of the improvements, but of course I ordered a few fun gadgets for myself.

It was nice to be able to spend some (fake) money on craziness, since buying the new house before selling the old one in Oklahoma (I'll make you a great deal if you read this and are interested in the Oklahoma Real Estate Market) has basically reduced our savings and my bankroll to zip. A lot of the expenses kind of snuck up on me...500 gallon propane tank @ $1.40 per gallon? There's a $700 bill I wasn't expecting. New tags for three vehicles @ $87 each? $261...at least I can mail the Oklahoma ones back for a pro-rated rebate. I don't think I'll hold my breath though.

I still have some nice plans in my pocket for fun stuff in the future. Looks like I may have to hold off on my next vehicle purchase for a bit longer than I'd hoped...But it will happen. Mark my words.

Monday, October 23, 2006

I was finally reconnected to the internet and played two tournaments...two disconnects were concerning but it reconnected fairly quickly. It's still very nice to be able to get phone calls while playing, along with reading blogs. I did a few test downloads and the speed seems more than acceptable. I'm really disappointed with the local phone company's coverage so I may be Vonage bound.

Today we're having a propane tank installed, just in time as the temperature is supposed to drop to 30 degrees tonight. Also the exterminator is supposed to come today for our initial treatments and the satellite company is supposed to come and fix one of my recievers.

My doggy door is supposed to be delivered by FedEx and I'm going to install that this evening. My wife is concerned that our old doggy door was 8.5" wide and the new one is only 7", and the bigger dog might not be able to get her wide load through the smaller opening. Time for a doggy diet, I think.

I still need to find a contractor to put up the chain-link fence in the backyard and the ol' homestead will be shaping up nicely.

Miami Don's Big Game looks like it was a blast last night, I'm sorry I missed it. It conflicted with the PSO league game and I totally spaced that it went on at the same time. Hopefully I will be able to make the next one.

Friday, October 20, 2006

I was exchanging emails with a friend (I know, you're shocked that I have friends) about politics yesterday. My friend is a republican (now you're even more shocked) and he considers himself a Christian Conservative (now you think I'm lying.) He started the exchange by emailing me the diatribe by Keith Obermann on MSNBC. He thought Olbermann was crazy. I had actually watched Olbermann on that broadcast and I agree with his commentary, that the government has gotten totally out of control.

He responded by asking me if I thought that everyone in Washington is "out of touch." Here was my response.

Take the UIGEA for example. That's the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act that will try to stop me from playing poker online. I have talked to almost everyone I know about it, and I don't know one person who thinks its right. NOT ONE PERSON.

So why did it get passed? Easy. The administration has COMPLETELY failed the Christian right. The Christian Coalition are pissed off because they thought that when they had GW in office and a republican house and a republican senate, that all their dreams would come true. That abortion would be illegal. That gay marriage would be outlawed by the constitution. Basically that Christianity would be installed as the official religion of the United States. But they got none of that. NOTHING they wanted actually happened.

So desperate senators like Bill Frist had to try and do SOMETHING that might satisfy those folks, his base. He pushed us under a bus by sneaking it in at the 11th hour attached to a Port Security Bill that got nearly 100% of the votes in the house because if a representative voted against it they'd appear soft on terrorism. The President signed it last Friday and didn't even mention the gambling part of it. Never mind that a port security law is AT LEAST four years overdue.

Out of touch doesn't even begin to describe these morons. Olbermann is pissed off, and I'm pissed off too.

The entire Abramoff scandal took place under the guise of a "Christian" organization, when the whole thing was about bilking Indians out of their money to preserve their legal gambling status. The churches involved said they wouldn't even have gone NEAR the guy if he had told them his organization was based on money from Indian Casinos.

It all seems to be a bunch of people who will do anything to preserve their power. Even the Foley thing. The leadership knew what was going on, but rather than risk losing his vote, they let him do whatever he wanted, no matter how wrong it was. Anything to keep the majority, keep the votes, keep the power.

It's disgusting.

My friend, a self-proclaimed member of the "Christian Right," agreed 100%.

Thursday, October 19, 2006

My Long Personal Nightmare is nearly over. Tomorrow I am having High Speed Internet installed!

I've played two tournaments using dial-up (like a caveman!) and while possible, it is certainly not the preferred way to play. I disconnected in the first one, and the panic over trying to reconnect possibly resulted in my misplaying of the next two hands, causing my early exit.

Both tournaments I've played via dial-up were for the PSO league. I missed the first three tournaments of the eight-game schedule. Your best five scores count, and I've exited early in both of them so the pressure is on for the final three. I still have a chance if I finish in the top three at least twice. Even if I didn't have a chance, I'd still play.

The overlay for the individual tournaments is incredible, and that doesn't even include the multitudes of bounties available. All PSO employees have bounties on them, and the top three players in the standings have bounties as well. I had two of the top three at my table in the first one, and boy they were donkalicious. Unfortunately I got moved from the table before I got a chance to K.O. either of them.

The prizes for winning the league start at around $1400 plus a couple hundred in tournament entries. This is for eight $5.50 tournaments.

KingLucky has two final tables and a 15th place finish so far, so he's in the top ten in standings even though he's only played four out of the five tourneys so far. I may be relegated to rooting him on if I don't place well in the next one.

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

FORMER Republican Congressional Leader Tom Delay, now under indictment, sent out a mass email to what I can only assume are other uptight white people that they must vote a certain way. What issue does Tom Delay think so important his constituency must address with their votes? Sara Evans' apparance on "Dancing with the Stars."

A fucking dance contest.

And does he want you to vote for her because she's the best dancer? FUCK NO!

"We need to send a message to Hollywood and the media that smut has no place on television by supporting good people like Sara Evans," said Delay in his message.

So Delay thinks Evans is the model for "Family Values" that all Americans must conform to?

Great. Because Evans has filed for divorce, and is going on Nashville television claiming her husband screwed their nanny, watched pornography in front of their three small children, consumed alcohol to excess (gasp!) and stole money from their joint account.

So "Family Values" include exposing the one-sided details of your divorce on television?

Monday, October 09, 2006

I moved all my stuff out of the apartment and into the house this weekend. The apartment sucked in just about every way (what was that constant high pitched noise?) but it did have high speed internet.

The new house does not have internet yet, and being there feels like an appendage is missing. Dish TV helps, but no internet means no poker, and no poker make Duggle grumpy.

I got the phone connected, after some troubleshooting, on Friday. I put my order in for DSL after finding out that the cable company doesn't offer Internet yet, but they do offer digital cable. Priorities, I guess. There are two wireless internet places but both of their towers are obscured by trees. Damn my beautiful wooded environment.

Of course there's dial up, but I want to exhaust every other high speed option. I don't think I've ever tried to play poker over dial up. Is it even possible? What are we, cavemen here?

The other option is satellite internet, but latency bothers me A LOT. Does anyone out there play poker over satellite internet?

Friday, October 06, 2006

Full Tilt Poker obviously is not giving up without a fight. They sent out an email to all their users with some pretty strong statements concerning the new online gaming legislation. If what Full Tilt Poker says is true, the new online gaming ban is actually a GOOD THING for poker players who want to play poker online.

Here's what FTP Says:

The new U.S. legislation does not in any way attempt to criminalize the act of you playing online poker. By playing online at Full Tilt Poker, you are not breaking any U.S. Federal laws.

This has been said numerous times by many sources. The law easily could have done this, but it didn't.

The passage of the new Internet Gaming law will not have any impact on your day-to-day experience at Full Tilt Poker. We will provide all of our players, everywhere in the world, with full access to all of our games and tournaments.

This has also been repeated. US players will still have access to any site that allows us. The government will not prevent anyone from going anywhere on the Internet.

We will continue to provide our players with all of the safe, secure and convenient methods for transferring money to and from the site. In fact, in recent discussions with our payment processors, we have been assured that this new law will have no immediate impact on their day-to-day business. And as always, any monies that you have on deposit with Full Tilt Poker remain completely safe and secure.

If this is true, then very little will change with the way US players do business. If Neteller still legally accepts deposits and withdrawls, nothing has changed.

Furthermore, we firmly believe that online poker is not encompassed by this new legislation.

This is the most important part. If this is actually true (and it's certainly no sure thing) then this law is actually a GOOD THING for online poker players. A law with no teeth is EVEN BETTER for poker players because it is unlikely that another law will be put in place that might actually make playing poker illegal, actually stop payment processors and prevent access.

Thursday, October 05, 2006

Republican congressional leadership seems like a bad career move these days, just ask Tom Delay (he should be available after he gets out of prison.) Incidentally, can we get Jack Abramoff early parole if he agrees to put on the Cleveland Indians mascot costume and get abandoned on a few reservations in the southwest? I smell a PPV!

Hastert is going down over his lack of action in the Foley matter.

When given the option between doing the right thing or protecting his power, he chose to preserve his power.

Tuesday, October 03, 2006

The pointlessness and sheer stupidity of the new Internet Gambling Ban is summed up perfectly by Radley Balko over at The Agitator my favorite Libertarian Blog.

Late Friday night, the U.S. Senate passed a ban on Internet gambling. The ban now awaits President Bush's signature.

Sen. Bill Frist attached the ban to the port security bill at the last minute on Friday, conveniently allowing the ban to go forward without any debate. That also means any Senator who rightly believes that online poker is none of the government's business would also have to vote against a national security bill to vote against the ban -- making that Senator a ripe target for charges of being soft on terrorism.

The major gaming sites -- that is, the legitimate companies regulated by British law and traded on the London Stock Exchange -- announced over the weekend that they'll cease offering service to U.S. customers the moment President Bush signs the bill. What does that mean? Well, it means the shady, fly-by-night sites that aren't regulated or publicly traded will now thrive with U.S. customers. These gray and black-market sites are more prone to fraud, more likely to be involved in organized crime, and don't include the child-protection measures the major sites have implemented.

For all the talk from Sen. Frist, Sen. Kyl, and Rep. Goodlatte about the dangers of this "unregulated" industry, the bill they've just passed will actually put the well-regulated gambling sites out of reach of U.S. customers. The end result? Online poker and other gaming sites will soon be even less regulated, more likely to induce children, and more likely to defraud U.S. consumers than ever before. Meanwhile, one of the most addictive forms of gambling -- state lotteries -- will soon make an en masse move online, thanks to an exemption in the bill that effectively creates an online monopoly for them.

In short, in an intrusive, big government effort to protect Americans from themselves, Congress has passed a futile, hypocritical, counter-productive, protectionist piece of legislation that will make it more difficult for millions of Americans to engage in an activity most participate in responsibly and moderately. For those people, the bill will probably work. But it'll do little to prevent problem gambling, children's access to gaming sites, or online fraud.

One can't help but think that for Frist, none of that matters so long as the bill helps Republicans keep control of the Senate come November.

Sunday, October 01, 2006

My strong finishes in Multi-Table Tournaments continues with an 11th out of 328 in the PSO $10,000 Freeroll at PokerRoom.com.

I bubbled the final table when the big stack around $100K who was playing almost everything raised into my AA in the Big Blind. Was above $40K so a double up would have given me the lead in the tournament. He had Q9 and the flop was T99 and the turn was a Queen, and his boat sent my rockets packing.

I'm still very happy with my play as my occasional aggressive play kept me in the top five or six players for most of the game.

There is still a severe problem of stalling in these tournaments. PSO has a rule if you stall in a freeroll, you will be disqualified from all future freerolls, yet people still stall, even when the tournament gets into hand-to-hand mode. Freerolls are still freerolls I guess, and they tend to bring the morons out of the woodwork. Luckily PSO is very consistent about banning these people from all future games.